Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the second common cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounting for about 35% of all deaths, after a composite of communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases. Despite prior perception of low NCDs mortality rates, current evidence suggests t...hat SSA is now at the dawn of the epidemiological transition with contemporary double burden of disease from NCDs and communicable diseases. In SSA, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the most frequent causes of NCDs deaths, responsible for approximately 13% of all deaths and 37% of all NCDs deaths. Although ischemic heart disease (IHD) has been identified as the leading cause of CVDs mortality in SSA followed by stroke and hypertensive heart disease from statistical models, real field data suggest IHD rates are still relatively low. The neglected endemic CVDs of SSA such as endomyocardial fibrosis and rheumatic heart disease as well as congenital heart diseases remain unconquered. While the underlying aetiology of heart failure among adults in high-income countries (HIC) is IHD, in SSA the leading causes are hypertensive heart disease, cardiomyopathy, rheumatic heart disease, and congenital heart diseases. Of concern is the tendency of CVDs to occur at younger ages in SSA populations, approximately two decades earlier compared to HIC. Obstacles hampering primary and secondary prevention of CVDs in SSA include insufficient health care systems and infrastructure, scarcity of cardiac professionals, skewed budget allocation and disproportionate prioritization away from NCDs, high cost of cardiac treatments and interventions coupled with rarity of health insurance systems. This review gives an overview of the descriptive epidemiology of CVDs in SSA, while contrasting with the HIC and highlighting impediments to their management and making recommendations.
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Every five minutes a child dies as the result of violence, according to a ground-breaking report from Unicef UK. The report reveals that the vast majority of children are killed outside warzones and that physical, sexual and emotional abuse is widespread with millions of children unsafe in their hom...es, schools and communities. Some 345 children could die from violence each day in the next year, unless governments act.
The report also finds that:
(1) Children who are victims of violence have brain activity similar to soldiers exposed to combat;
(2) A third of children who are victims of violence are likely to develop long-lasting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder;
(3) Those living in poverty are more likely to be victims of violence, wherever they live in the world;
(4) Over 7% of child deaths due to violence each day are the result of interpersonal violence, rather than conflict.
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- Build community resilience to coastal hazards by improving capacity of inclusive disaster management systems.
- Reduce the mortality rate of persons with disabilities in situations of risk.
- Raise awareness about inclusive policies, practices and disaster risk reduction strategies that ...address the accessibility of communication, shelter, transportation and early warning systems.
- Foster collaboration between disaster preparedness organizations, broadcasters and organizations of persons with disabilities to mainstreaming disability issues in disaster risk reduction strategies.
- Build the capacity of disaster management organizations, governments, broadcasters and built environment practitioners by providing technical specifications on accessible communications and the design of accessible shelters and the built environment.
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Long-term polio vaccine security – the timely, sustained, and uninterrupted supply of suitable types of affordable, quality-assured polio vaccines – is essential in the global effort to achieve and maintain a polio free world. However, fragmented approaches and short-term planning pose considera...ble challenges to securing long-term polio vaccine security.
This framework is designed to enhance the efforts of existing structures and workstreams within the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) and other stakeholders by improving communication and coordination on vaccine security. Ensuring vaccine security is crucial for maintaining a timely, sustained, and uninterrupted supply of affordable, quality-assured polio vaccines in the global fight to achieve and sustain a polio-free world. However, challenges such as fragmented approaches, short-term planning, a dynamic policy environment, and a diverse product pipeline present significant risks to long-term vaccine security. This framework emphasizes the need for alignment and coordination across key polio operational domains, including Poliovirus Containment, Research and Development, and Vaccine Manufacturing and Supply. It also underscores the critical role of normative frameworks and policies in shaping long-term vaccine strategies that guide these operational areas. Additionally, it highlights the importance of cross-cutting elements such as financing and access to resources, along with the integration of communication, coordination, and advocacy efforts, as essential enablers for achieving vaccine security. To secure long-term vaccine supply, it is imperative to enhance alignment and strengthen coordinated efforts across workstreams and with stakeholders, including vaccine manufacturers.
Recognizing that vaccine security is an ongoing endeavor, requiring continuous monitoring and adaptation, this framework will undergo regular updates and revisions. Initially, the management of the framework will be carried out by the GPEI Vaccine Supply Group (VSG).
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2.4 billion reasons to end the global climate and inequality crisis. An estimated 774 million children across the world – or one third of the world’s child population - are living with the dual impacts of poverty and high climate .The country with the highest percentage of children impacted by t...his double burden is South Sudan (87%), followed by the Central African Republic (85%) and Mozambique (80%).risk,
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This document is one of eight PDF documents that comprise the Guidance on Child-focused Victim
Assistance. All are available in PDF at . The full document is also available.
This first section contains the Acknowledgements, Foreword, Acronyms and Chapters 1 th...rough 4: Chapter 1. Introduction: The Need for Child-focused Victim Assistance Guidance; Chapter 2. Mine Action, UNICEF and Guidance on Child Victim Assistance ;Chapter 3. Victim Assistance: Stakeholders and International Standards; Chapter 4. Principles, Coordination and Cross-cutting Aspects of Victim Assistance
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The document introduces a simple classification, minimums standards and a registration form for Foreign Medical Teams (FMTs) that may provide surgical and trauma care arriving within the aftermath of a sudden onset disaster. These can serve as tools to improve the coordination of the foreign medical... team response, and be the reference for registration on arrival as well as a possible global registration mechanism similar to what exists for urban search and rescue teams
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This is the first global report on epilepsy summarizing the available evidence on the burden of epilepsy and the public health response required at global, regional and national levels.
The reports highlights major gaps in awareness, diagnosis, treatment, and health policies through a series of a...ppalling numbers. With around 50 million people affected worldwide, epilepsy is one of the most common and serious brain disorders. Nearly 80% of people with epilepsy live in low-income and middle-income countries
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This Guidance Note aims to provide an overview of entry points and means for monitoring the attendance and re-enrolment of students in the context of COVID-19 related school closures and re-openings. It is intended for UNICEF education staff, and education policy makers, planners and practitioners.
This comprehensive book has established itself as the most useful text for the medical practitioner in poor-resource settings who is obliged to manage surgical cases. It is particularly adapted for those whose surgical experience is basic or minimal. Importantly, it has extensive advice about pitfal...ls to avoid, and what to do if things go wrong. It is written in simple style, particularly for those whose mother tongue is not English. It is not a text which discusses the latest up-to-date technology, but it is not out-of-date being a synthesis of the best advice from a myriad of surgeons practicing for many years in low- and middle-income countries.
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This research report provides results from the study of living conditions
among people with disabilities in Lesotho. Comparisons are made
between disabled and non-disabled in household level and individual
level. Disability was defined as limitation to perform certain activities that
was measure...d according to the Washington City Group questions.
Results obtained in Lesotho are also compared to those obtained in
earlier studies carried out in Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia, Zimbabwe
and Malawi. The Lesotho study was undertaken in 2009-2010.
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The main objective of these guidelines is to provide guidance on up-to-date, uniform, evidence-informed practices for suspecting, diagnosing and managing various forms of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) at all levels of healthcare delivery. They can then contribute to the National Programme to i...mprove detection, care and outcomes in EPTB; to help the programme with initiation of treatment, adherence and completion whilst minimizing drug toxicity and overtreatment; and contribute to practices that minimize the development of drug resistance.
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In contrast to bilateral aid, aid disbursed from
multilateral institutions increased significantly at the onset
of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, at a time when a coherent
and effective multilateral response is needed most, the
COVID-19 pandemic revealed a shifting landscape of donor
agencies that... struggle with basic functions, such as crossnational coordination. While multilaterals are uniquely
positioned to transcend national priorities and respond
to pandemics, functionally we find official development
assistance (ODA) from these entities may increasingly
mimic the attributes of bilateral aid. We explore three
important, but not comprehensive, attributes of aid leading
up to and during the COVID-19 pandemic: (1) earmarking,
(2) donor concentration and (3) aid modality.
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Millions of children in Yemen could be pushed to ‘the brink of starvation’ due to huge shortfalls in humanitarian aid funding amid the COVID-19 pandemic – according to a new UNICEF report marking more than five years since conflict escalated in the country.
AMR is one of the Key priority of the global health security agenda action package, as well as it is one of the commitments of Ministry of Public Health Afghanistan to combat AMR. In Afghanistan because of war and some other political issues the borders of the country are not well secured and well c...ontrolled therefore control of smuggling of medicine is a big challenge in front of the rational use of medicine. Lack of knowledge (professionals and public), poor economic state, conflict of war, presence of remote areas and etc…. are the other main challenges for this to won the battle of combating AMR.
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In 2012, all Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed a historical target to reduce premature mortality from noncommunicable diseases
(NCD). This commitment was echoed in 2015 by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which included a target to reduce premature morta...lity (the
measure of unfulfilled life expectancy and deaths between the ages of 30 and 70 years) from NCD by 30% by the year 2030. The Sustainable Development Goals are especially relevant to cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death globally, with increasing prevalence in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
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The issue of Antimicrobial resistance has become one of the most substantial health issues, prompting the World Health Assembly (WHA) to urge Member States to finalise tailor made national action plans by May 2017, aligning them with objectives of the Global Action Plan (GAP). These cover awareness,... surveillance and research, hygiene infection prevention & control, optimal use of antimicrobial medicines and economic case for sustainable investment. Indonesia, by virtue of its geographical terrain and complex interactions with diverse stakeholders, indicates a higher burden of AMR. Most of the country’s data currently relies on local studies conducted by labs and universities. To get a more accurate estimate of the situation, one has to rely on results from the Regional Resistance Surveillance Programme. By undertaking such measure, Indonesia would acquire data to detect AMR trends at a national level.
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NFPA continues to work with partners to respond to the Ukraine emergency. Highlights from the month of January include:
- The #TrainOfHope launched between Kyiv and Chisinau is a lifeline, providing refugees, including many women with children, both a route to safety and a way back home.
- When t...he Government of Ukraine lost control of Kherson city, social workers at a shelter for survivors of domestic violence continued to work so that women and girls could receive essential assistance.
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This special issue on Newborn Health in Global Health Action is being launched to share the experience of how to scale up a cost-effective package of newborn care that involves families, community health workers and health facilities. The results of this community randomized trial, the Uganda Newbor...n Study (UNEST), show that home visits in pregnancy and soon after delivery resulted in improved breastfeeding practices, skin-to-skin care immediately after birth, delaying a baby’s first bath, and hygienic care of the baby’s umbilical cord among the poorest households with lowest access to care.
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Kenya is home to 4 million girls and women who have experienced FGM. Overall, 21 per cent of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years have undergone the practice, varying from 98 per cent in the North Eastern region to 1 per cent in the Western region